video from inside starbucks (sorry about the noise)

Shibuyas famous scramble intersection

More sushi pictures...

My favorite cheap sushi joint in Shinjuku. 1 plate is 100 yen

This is a dead Cicada. If it were alive, and it was summer, it would be making the most insane noise you've ever heard coming from an insect. its actual size is about twice its appearance here.

Here's a pretty awesome shot of some Japanese politicians (or would-be politicians. I'm pretty sure these guys lost) campaigning on the street. During the summer these guys are out all the time with megaphones and signs. I think these guys yelled at us after we took their picture

No Smoking

In case you can't read it, the text says: "The cool cowboy flicks his cigarette butt into the street. But he lives in an old movie." Signs like this one are posted all over tokyo. This one is my personal favorite

I've decided to try to pick up this blog again after what has now been about 17 months or so... I wonder if anyone will notice?

holiday time

Now that i can write from my phone, you will be hearing from me more often. My average commute is around 1 hour each way,so this will give me something to do to pass the time. Right now I am in the middle of a weeklong break from work, thnks to a string of japanese holidays that fall together. Training wrapped up on monday and i haven't begun teaching yet so i'm hoping all of the skills i've acquired will stay sharp. luckily my first week will only be three days long, and consists mostly of substitution duty. By the middle of the month, my regular schedule will be in full swing

testing 2

hopefully this time the picture will show up

testing

i can now blog directly from my phone.  pretty amazing huh?  this is a picture of me the other day in Kamakura at one of the largest temples in the area

 

sign

me up

Week 1

As I write this, I am sitting in the living room of my guest house watching an episode of the OC dubbed over in Japanese, which happens to have parto fo it set in portland!?? How random is that. Newayz, I finished the first week of training today and passed the first teaching demo, or major test needed to become an actual teacher and get a contract. The company doesn't actually offer you a contract or full salary until you have successfully completed their training. I was a little nervous this morning but the demo went well, and I now am feeling more relaxed than I have in a few days. Out of seven trainees, two will have to go in for more training on this weeks topics sometime next week. I am thankful to have avoided that fate, as next week is just as busy as the last. I have more training on saturday, sunday is off, and then monday we start training for kids classes. This should be pretty interesting, as it will involve lots of song, dance and lessons on how to control up to 8 rugrats who hardly speak a lick of english.
In other news, the wet season appears to have started as of yesterday. I had totally forgotten that Japan had a "rainy season", not to mention typhoons, etc.. This morning I woke up to strong gusts of wind howling as they blasted through the grove of bamboo outside my window, accompanied by a torrential downpour that continued for several hours. According to the locals, we'll be getting a lot of weather like this over the next month or two, before the 90 plus degree heat and 90 plus percent humidity fully set in. Sweet! I actually don't mind the heat or the rain, it's just kind of a pain when you have to wear a suit to work everyday.

contact info

in case anyone wants to write snail mail, here's my address

450-1
Edacho
Aoba-ku
Yokohama-shi
Kanagawa
225-0013
Japan

Training Days.....

Hello again to all. Sorry It's been a few days, but there's been a lot of stuff to do! I haven't felt this busy in years. Today was the second day of training. The first day consisted of mostly administrative stuff like tax forms, health insurance etc., pretty boring overall, and a long day to boot, roughly from 10am to 7pm not including commute time which totaled just over 3 hours for the day. On the way to work, myself and the other two trainees living in my guesthouse decided it would be a good idea to take the express train, and there ended up being some kind of accident on the express line. We were stuck on this train like sardines for nearly an hour, as the train crept along at about 5mph. Luckily we had built in enough of a buffer that we still made it to the first day of training on time. We did have to skip breakfast but substituted a can of HOT coffee from the vending machine. That's right. They have vending machines with hot beverages in a can. And they're everywhere. I think we have at least 3 of them within a stones throw of the front door of the guest house.

Anyway, day 2 was much more training oriented. We spent the morning going over teaching techniques, and in the evening, I went to a school just outside Tokyo to observe an experienced teacher doing free time lessons, which is a basic conversation lesson with 1-4 students.
I have to stop writing and go to bed now, as tommorrow's going to be another early day and I've been accumulating a sleep deficit over the past few days. More tommorrow aroung this time. pictures still on the way...

Hey Everyone,
Sorry its taken me a few days, but heres the first blog post. its gonna be short, as i have a lot to do today. and i cant figure out how to type an apostrophe on this computer. Its my first morning in the guesthouse which is nice but kind of reminds me of my first college dorm, only quieter. The journey from the airport to here was kind of tricky but luckily i met another teacher in my program on the first leg of the trip. With the power of our two brains combined we were almost as competent as a japanese person in navigating the rail system for the first time. We only caught the wrong train twice, and even had time to fit in a delicious lunch of spicy ramen noodles in Shinjuku. I hadn:t expected japanese food could be so spicy, but now ill know, medium means really hot. Many hilarious sights were observed over the duration of the trip, namely the awesome engrish on the japanese billboards. For those not familiar with engrish, check out engrish.com for some serious laughs. last night we got to check out the neighborhood a little as we found a place to eat. despite being 35 minutes from downtown Tokyo, our neighborhood feels quite urban and has all the amenities one could ask for within walking distance. Ive gotta run and get some breakfast, and do some more exploring, so thats all for now. Ill post again soon with pictures.